Hanukkah

The propriety of celebrating the downfall of enemies presents a complex web of questions and seemingly contradictory Jewish texts. Michael Kurin makes sense of this subject and proposes a framework for applying it to matters of Israeli public policy.

Mois Navon explores what makes Hanukkah so special.

In his Yiddish poem "Hanukkah" (1932), Avrom Liessen poignantly recalled his early experience of the holiday. Dov Greenwood's vivid translation transports us into that wondrous world.

In his latest for the Lehrhaus, Aton Holzer sheds light on the hidden roots of Hanukkah–exploring the political and theological meaning of the holiday from the Second Temple period through the Talmud.

Tzvi Sinensky on the lost Menorah, the Vatican theory, and the ideology of the search and mythology.

Media culture scholar, Matt Sienkiewicz, reflects on the Maccabeats phenomenon and the group's first viral smash.

Malka Simkovich on the Hasmonean victories and the truth behind the Hanukkah miracle.

Aton Holzer explores the changing nature of Jewish interactions with Rome from Maccabees through the Rabbinic period.

Outside the Land of Israel, we add an extra day to several holidays. Michael Kurin wonders: why not on Hanukkah?

Does halakhah have something to say about the subjectivity of aesthetic experience? Yosie Levine investigates the case of fashioning a replica Temple Menorah as adjudicated in the eighteenth century and what it can tell us about halachic thinking about art and aesthetics.